Steve Kerr: We have to compete like crazy to end Warriors' struggles

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OAKLAND — Before anyone even asked the questions, Warriors coach Steve Kerr knew what was coming.

The Warriors (41-13) enter Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks (17-37) at Oracle Arena with three losses in the past four games. Kerr also saw the hordes of reporters standing by the interview table following Wednesday’s practice. So, the Warriors coach put the two things together.

“Is Ted Koppel going to have a special?” Kerr jokingly asked. “‘Crisis in the Bay: Warriors in Peril.'”

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Kerr would not say the Warriors are in peril. The Warriors still boast the NBA’s best record. They have also gone 13-5 since Warriors guard Stephen Curry returned from a right ankle injury that sidelined him for 11 games. Yet, Kerr believes the Warriors are “in a rut” after subpar play eventually caught up to them in recent bottom-line results.

“We have enough talent to win without playing at our best. But we developed some bad habits,” Kerr said. “Those bad habits are starting to be exposed. Now we’ve got to get rid of those habits. No easier way to say it than we have to compete like crazy.”

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Some of those bad habits trace back to the Warriors’ unwillingness to compete like crazy.

The Warriors committed 25 turnovers in losses this past week to Utah and Oklahoma City. But the Warriors have ranked 29th out of 30 teams all season with 15.6 turnovers per game because Kerr believes the team has become intent on hitting home runs instead of singles. In the past 18 contests that have coincided with underwhelming wins and ugly defeats, the Warriors also have ranked 25th out of 30 NBA teams in defensive rating. And for most of the time, the Warriors had any combination of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to camouflage such issues.

The Warriors have since realized top-heavy talent does not cure every ill. So, Kerr said the Warriors will have to rely on another remedy, even against a Mavericks team that ranks last in the Western Conference.

“It’s not going to be easy. We’re not going to come out and score 140 [points],” Kerr said. “I know these games well. You have to win with competitive desire, defense and toughness. That’s what we have to bring.”

Kerr cited the Warriors’ previous worst stretch of basketball for some perspective.

The Warriors lost five out of seven games last season that included a three-game losing streak. Some of those reasons stemmed from playing eight games in eight different cities in 13 days, punctuated with a final stop in San Antonio where Kerr sat his star players at ABC’s dismay. Some of the other reasons, though, traced back to the Warriors struggling to find purpose in regular-season games in the winter when they have become conditioned to thrive in playoff games in the spring.

When the Warriors returned home, they clinched a two-point win over Philadelphia at Oracle Arena. That marked the beginning of a 15-1 record to close out the 2016-17 regular season.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes, a game or two where you really have to dig deep and defend at a high level,” Kerr said. “Competitive desire is the best medicine when you’re in a position like this when you’re taking some lumps.”

The Warriors may have already received some of that medicine. Thompson noted on Tuesday night that the Warriors need to start winning games so to stay ahead of the Houston Rockets (39-13). Houston matched the Warriors’ loss totals and holds a regular-season tie breaker after beating Golden State two out of three times this season.

“Klay knew the standings?” Kerr joked. “That’s awesome. He’s come a long way. Does he know what conference we’re in? Just kidding.”

Kerr then turned serious.

“I look at the standings every day. But I don’t obsess over them,” Kerr said. “I’m much more interested in our play and high level of play and reaching our standards, which we haven’t done in quite a while.”

And to reach that standard, the star-studded Warriors might have to do something that much less talented teams often have to do to win games. As Kerr said, “If you want to get out of it, you have to fight, scrap and claw.”

“As long as we show the fight that I know we have in us,” Kerr said, “that stuff will be corrected.”